Chapter 3 - Buford
This chapter focuses on Major General John Buford, who rides into Gettysburg the day before day one of the battle and encounters the advanced infantry of the Confederate Army - but no cavalry (a point that I know is key). It is a dramatic moment. Upon spying the Rebel army, Buford sends a message to General Reynolds. Buford has been burned before, holding good ground, and not being backed up by the generals in Washington. He has confidence in Reynolds but not so much in Meade and other commanders.
He had held good ground before and sent off appeals, and help never came. He was very low on faith. It was a kind of gray sickness; it weakened the hands. He stood up and walked to the stone fence. It wasn't the dying. He had seen men die all of his life, and death was the luck of chance, the price you eventually paid. What was worse was the stupidity. The appalling sick stupidity that was so bad you thought sometimes you would go suddenly, violently, completely insane jst having to watch it. It was a deadly thing to be thinking on. Job to be done here. And all of it turns on faith.
By the end of the chapter, Buford has heard back from Reynolds, instructing him to hold his ground. It is easy for the reader to realize that the battle, any battle, is won or lost based on many of these early decisions, decisions made before even a shot is fired. The frustration for men like Buford - and Longstreet on the other side - is that their professional understanding of battle and war is undermined by those higher up in the command chain. The lack of leadership probably explains why the war went on as long as it did. It wasn't until moments like Gettysburg, when the Union began to listen to its soldiers and the Confederacy began making the mistakes that the Union had been making, that the tide began to turn.
This chapter focuses on Major General John Buford, who rides into Gettysburg the day before day one of the battle and encounters the advanced infantry of the Confederate Army - but no cavalry (a point that I know is key). It is a dramatic moment. Upon spying the Rebel army, Buford sends a message to General Reynolds. Buford has been burned before, holding good ground, and not being backed up by the generals in Washington. He has confidence in Reynolds but not so much in Meade and other commanders.
He had held good ground before and sent off appeals, and help never came. He was very low on faith. It was a kind of gray sickness; it weakened the hands. He stood up and walked to the stone fence. It wasn't the dying. He had seen men die all of his life, and death was the luck of chance, the price you eventually paid. What was worse was the stupidity. The appalling sick stupidity that was so bad you thought sometimes you would go suddenly, violently, completely insane jst having to watch it. It was a deadly thing to be thinking on. Job to be done here. And all of it turns on faith.
By the end of the chapter, Buford has heard back from Reynolds, instructing him to hold his ground. It is easy for the reader to realize that the battle, any battle, is won or lost based on many of these early decisions, decisions made before even a shot is fired. The frustration for men like Buford - and Longstreet on the other side - is that their professional understanding of battle and war is undermined by those higher up in the command chain. The lack of leadership probably explains why the war went on as long as it did. It wasn't until moments like Gettysburg, when the Union began to listen to its soldiers and the Confederacy began making the mistakes that the Union had been making, that the tide began to turn.
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